


don’t wanna lie here (but you can learn to)

by glimbows



Series: everything i wanted [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Missing Scene, She-Ra Season 4 Compliant, even though bow is a GOOD FRIEND and would GO TALK TO HER, raise ur hand if ur mad bow and glimmer never got to Talk in season 4, this is me amending that. and im REALLY proud of this so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:55:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25192777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glimbows/pseuds/glimbows
Summary: In the reflection of her window she sees his fingers twitch. Like magnets, hers do the same, unable to decide if they want to attract or repel.“Tell me what you need me to do. Let me help you.”or,Bow attempts to comfort Glimmer after the fall of Salineas, and Glimmer attempts to get a good night’s sleep.
Relationships: Adora & Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Series: everything i wanted [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1826020
Comments: 20
Kudos: 79





	don’t wanna lie here (but you can learn to)

**Author's Note:**

> takes place in between s4, ep 7 “mer-mysteries” and s4, ep 8 “boys’ night out”.

The storm rages on long after they leave the coast of Salineas. 

Glimmer thinks, if not for Mermista’s anguish, she would have stood on that clifftop until first moonrise. The haunting glow of the destroyed Sea Gate follows her back to Bright Moon. She tries to blink it away, but it’s fruitless. It’s just another stain of red on her legacy. As rebellion leader, the kingdom’s fall is on her hands. 

The least she can do now is give Mermista a place to stay. 

In the morning, everyone  _ but her _ will join the now-combined Bright Moon and Salinean forces on the front lines. Until then, it’s their job as high ranking rebel members to stay back and plan. So Mermista gets a room outfitted with a bathtub (as per her request) and Glimmer allots herself a meager two hours of sleep after completing her urgent duties. 

Her pink nightgown is slung over her vanity seat from the morning. It’s comfortable, regal, all flowing silk and lace — but donning it does little to calm her nerves. Even though it’s been fitted to her, Glimmer feels like she drowns in it. A part of her misses the cutesy pajamas she used to wear as a princess. 

Once sat at her vanity, she begins to comb her hair to the beat of the heavy rain hitting her window. Glimmer attempts to savor this newfound abundance of alone time. In these murky moments she can look as tired as she really is with only the young woman in the mirror there to judge her. Whether that’s a pro or a con, she can’t tell. 

Shoulders are slumped, eyes are downcast — she’s unable to look her reflection in the eye. 

Earlier in the week, during one of her all-too-infrequent visits, Castaspella innocently remarked that her niece looked “so much like Angella these days”. And if that’s the case, where has Glimmer gone? 

“—she might already be asleep!” A voice says from the hall. Despite her brief surprise, the Queen can tell that it’s the She-Ra herself. 

“If she’s asleep, we just close the door nice and slow, no harm done. But we have to check on her.” 

“I don’t think she  _ wants _ to be checked on, Bow. Did you see the way she walked out of the war room? That was a very clear  _ do not follow me _ walk.” 

Bow scoffs. “Or maybe that’s just how you saw it because you’re clearly avoiding each other. Nothing gets solved that way, y’know.” 

Glimmer grimaces in her seat. She doesn’t want either of them barging in on her sparse sleeptime, but she also doesn’t want Adora to be right about her “walk”. Adora always thinks she’s right. 

“I just think we should do this literally any other time.” The blonde sighs. “Just… Double Trouble, Salineas, Mermista, everything! She needs her sleep. And we need ours.” 

“Adora,” Bow begins, but he’s quickly waved off. 

“Some other time, Bow, okay? Some other time.” 

By the footfalls that follow, Glimmer can tell that only Adora has walked away. She knows Bow well enough to imagine the kicked-puppy look on his face. Any other time, that would be enough to convince her to invite him in. But she’s already made the decision to invite herself along on the morning’s recovery mission, which means she has to rest. 

She’s about to stand and wave out her lights when she hears a knock on the door. Glimmer quirks an eyebrow, wondering if she’s miscalculated and it  _ is _ Adora still outside. 

“Adora?” She calls out after a moment. 

“Uh, Bow.” Comes the muffled reply. 

“Come in?” 

The archer opens the door as if it’s made of glass, slow and deliberate. Barely any noise is made as it fits back into the wall. 

“You never knock.” Glimmer says. 

“Oh. I just thought you might be asleep.” He replies. 

There’s a silence then as they consider each other from the slight distance between them. A nervous, wandering eye of Bow’s notices that the crayon-drawn targets that once hung around the room are gone.  _ When’d she take those down?  _

Glimmer returns her attention back to the mirror and the brush back to her hair. “You two aren’t very stealthy.” 

“You heard… that?” 

“Only all of it.” A beat. He hasn’t given any indication that he plans on leaving. “Do  _ you _ need something?” 

Bow blinks as if the answer is the most obvious thing in the world. And it is. “I meant what I said out there. I want to check on you.” 

“Mission accomplished,” she gestures up and down to herself. “I’m still here.” 

“That’s not what I meant.” He grumbles. 

_ Too little, too late _ , the Queen thinks. She huffs her frustrations into her chest, rising from her vanity and turning to scoot her chair in. The more Adora ends up being right about, the angrier she gets. 

“I need to sleep. It’s late, the first moon will be up in like, three hours.” 

“But, Glimmer,” 

“A lot happened today, Bow. Aren’t you tired? Go to bed.” 

“I’m worried about you.” Bow says. There’s some pride to it, but he’s not standing with his chest puffed out or anything. 

Glimmer doesn’t reply. Instead, she thinks about the half a dozen or so missed tracker pad calls. She thinks about the parties in Elberon that run hours over schedule. While he’s out with Adora, she’s collecting dust back at the castle, forced to sit at the war room table with no one but her grief to keep her company. Finally, huzzah, she’s got some time to get acquainted with it. 

At her stony gaze, Bow leaves his quiver and arrows at the door. He steps forward with his hands, metaphorically, held up beside his ears. Anything to keep her from pouncing on him, to convey to her that he’s not here to fight.

“Talk to me, Glim,” he says a little softer. “What’s going on?” 

“What’s going  _ on?” _ Her voice raises an octave. “Were you even listening at the meeting, Bow? We failed miserably at Dryl, Salineas is in shambles, Mermista is out of commission, there was a shape-shifting Horde spy in our ranks that’s now refusing to say anything useful, and all the other princesses are starting to have their doubts!” 

Once they’d returned to Bright Moon, Glimmer, Mermista, Adora, and Bow had reconvened with the Princess Alliance. General Juliet and company had escorted Double Trouble to the spare room, where Shadow Weaver had effectively enacted a charm to keep them secure. That precaution was supposed to lessen the stress for the alliance, but had done no such thing. 

While their rebel leader was away in Salineas, the other princesses had started to receive word of unrest in their own kingdoms. If the Horde had not already invaded, there was now the very reasonable fear that they would hanging heavy in the air. And, as the structure designed, each monarch looked to Glimmer for answers. 

Each time she sits with all those worried eyes boring into her, she respects her late mother a tich more. 

Teardrop earring, queenly leotard, diamond brooch — are these traits of any queen, or bits and pieces she’s trying to hold on to? 

What she would give for Angella’s embrace right now. Bow takes a small step forward. 

“Let’s talk about it. Start with the meeting, tell me what’s going through your head about that.” 

Glimmer groans, throwing a hand in the air and clapping it against her forehead. “Should we start with Frosta saying flat-out that the alliance isn’t working? Or, how about the fact that, apparently, there are people in Plumeria thinking about cutting deals with the Horde when they inevitably arrive to save their own skins?” 

“Frosta was just frustrated,” Bow says gently, looking to his best friend’s clenched fist. “She didn’t mean it…” 

“What about Perfuma, then? I gave her a solution to the Horde outpost outside of her kingdom, and she didn’t even want to listen to me!” 

“You suggested the Plumerians attack the outpost head-on, Glimmer.” 

She holds out her arms and juts her chin forward, a gesture that clearly yells _ “And?”  _

“So… Perfuma is a pacifist. Her entire reign is built on peace.” He sighs, speaking with a little more emphasis. “You can’t just go right into inciting violence and expect a ruler like Perfuma to agree with you.” 

Just like Adora, Glimmer knows he’s right. He’s always had a way with people that she just can’t comprehend. It’s one of the things that’s always terrified her about him, or rather, their dynamic. She was a ticking time bomb, and he was a walk through the park. Anyone would be lucky to have him. Everyone was competition. 

To lose him in any capacity is terrifying, but she’s far too mobilized by her fear. 

“Well, your friend Perfuma—”

“ _ My _ friend?” Bow interjects.

“ _ —Perfuma _ is going to have to get over her little world peace song and dance if she wants to effectively protect her kingdom. At this rate, Plumeria is next, and they’re going to welcome the Horde with flower crowns.” 

“Glimmer. No one here is against you. Not Frosta, not Perfuma, no one. We’re all friends. That’s what makes us such a strong team.” Adora is purposefully left out of the equation. 

“But we have to actually act against the opposing forces! Friendship isn’t winning me this war, Bow!” She gasps, her words hanging in the air between them. 

A heavy sigh escapes her lips, arms drooping to her sides. To render Bow quiet is to hit him where it hurts, and Glimmer isn’t proud of herself for opening such a can of worms. Still, instead of extending an olive branch, she turns to slip her tiara off. 

The crown is a boulder in her hands. Once she sets it down on her vanity, Bow clears his throat. 

“I understand that you’re stressed,” he begins, and Glimmer can’t bring herself to stomach another textbook therapy session. So, she bites.

“That’s rich.” 

“What?” Bow says, his once-swift step now that of a skip on a record. 

“I said  _ that’s rich _ .” Glimmer repeats. “Maybe, if you and Adora oh, I dunno, actually came home in time for dinner with me, I’d believe you. But you guys don’t have any idea what I’ve been going through.” 

Bow, always ready with an arrow, always ready with a response, stands in silence before her. 

Glimmer has never had reason to call him a bad friend before, and that’s because Bow is the best person she’s ever met. There is no one smarter, no one more compassionate— there is no other Bow. But there is a hammering inside of her that wants to let bygones be bygones, that wants to throw her into his arms where she fits so nicely, but Glimmer tunes it out and listens to the rain thrum. 

She’s been beating her own drum with no help for months now, but his smile is the hiccup in her tune. Nothing about Bow used to faze her before. He was familiar, he was the one thing she could always count on, and when that began to change, so did the song in her head. 

She doesn’t want it to mean what she thinks it means. She can’t afford a distraction right now. 

“I … thought I was doing my best.” He finally says. She stays still, only half facing him. “I always try my best for you, Glimmer. For you, for Adora, for my dads, for the Rebellion… but I hear you. And I want to listen so I can do better.” 

In the reflection of her window she sees his fingers twitch. Like magnets, hers do the same, unable to decide if they want to attract or repel. 

“Tell me what you need me to do. Let me help you.” 

She holds her trembling hands to her chest and teleports up to her bed. 

“Let me sleep.” 

And it’s like a door slammed in his face. But Bow knows her too well, knows the hunch of her shoulders when she’s about to snap in half. This is the first time her sitting up so high feels like he’s being looked down upon. 

And that’s not who they are. 

“No,” he says rather shakily at first. Then, as he hops onto the first step, his voice grows stronger, albeit squeakier. “No, Glim, we have to talk about this.” 

She huffs back a groan as the clanking of his boots up the stairs continues, flopping onto her side and throwing her covers over herself. 

“You’re my best friend,” Bow continues as he reaches the top and moves to sit beside her. “I’m not leaving you like this— I’m not letting you leave  _ us _ like this, okay?” 

“Bow,” she sighs, exasperated. “You asked me what I want you to do, I want you to let me sleep.” 

“But you also said that I haven’t been there for you, that I don’t get it, and I want to. And you need someone right now. So let me  _ try _ ,” 

The more strained their voices get, the more she feels tears prick at the corners of her eyes. That only frustrates her further; she needs to save her weakness for when she’s inevitably alone again. 

The first moon will rise, and Bow will be right back to going off with Adora. If she can get him to leave before he chooses to do so himself, it may hurt a little less. 

“It’s too late!” She seethes through her teeth. 

“I’ll make sure you get your sleep tomorrow,” 

“No!” Glimmer exclaims, throwing the covers back so she can turn to him. “It’s  _ too late! _ The rebellion is falling apart! We’re losing, Etheria is running out of time, and it’s all my fault!” 

The final word sits like a rock in her throat, and once it’s passed, her tears begin to flow freely. The Queen turns on her side again, knees to her chest, hands under her pillow as she attempts to obscure Bow’s view of her. She’s pathetic; a pathetic excuse for a monarch, and a pathetic excuse for a friend. 

Glimmer prays then that she’ll get to hear his boots descend the stairs, the bedroom door shut, but the only sound in the air is that of the storm. With a short wave, she magically snuffs out the lights, hoping that’ll kick Bow into gear. But for a good minute, there’s only rain. 

And then, his arms. 

They’re wrapped slowly around her middle, pulling her close to him as he settles down behind her. He’s taller than her, but she feels the gentle squish of his cheek against her shoulder, of his knees on the back of her legs. It makes her want to cry harder. She chokes it all back. 

It’s a position they’ve been in a million times, but Glimmer is shocked into silence by how new it feels. Their once soothing bedtime ritual now holds a deeply emotional charge, the embrace full of desperation and—if she dares—intimacy. If he feels the same, she can’t tell. 

She gasps out the air frozen in her lungs slowly, choppily, in tandem with a tear running down her cheek. 

“It’s okay.” Bow whispers. “I’ve gotcha.”

Sinking into his embrace, Glimmer wants him to leave now more than she did before. The rain is coming down in sheets, but she can’t hear it anymore. Instead, her heart drums a terrible tune of change. She’s sure Bow, with his ear against her back, can hear it. 

He laces one of their hands together. “Just breathe.” 

But she can’t. Not productively, at least; not with the threat of another grand shift in her ill-established normalcy lurking so close. This one could ruin everything between them. 

Friendship isn’t winning her this war. And she doubts love will be any different.   
  


— 

Bow always wakes up before her. It’s common knowledge between them, so she pretends to be asleep when she feels him shift for the first time in a long time beside her. 

The first moon is beginning to rise over the kingdom, meaning that it's time for the rebels to bid their queen adieu and set off for the Sea Gate. 

Still locked in their position from a mere two hours ago, Glimmer finds it sweet how he attempts to untwine himself without waking her. If she wasn’t already up, it would have, but her plan spares him that knowledge.

The truth is, she hadn’t slept a wink all night. 

After about fifteen minutes of making sure she could breathe, Bow had fallen victim to his own fatigue. Maybe if things were different, his gentle snores would have lulled her to bed soon after. But Glimmer had been much too scrambled by her own thinking for that. 

Now that he’s leaving, things are simpler. She can focus on the day ahead, on following Sea Hawk, Spinnerella, and Netossa’s brigade to Sea Elf Village undetected. They were the least likely to drop everything at the sight of her. 

And what a sight she is, apparently. She can feel Bow staring at her after he finishes sitting up. One of her tightly-shut eyes nearly flits open, but the Queen stops herself, rendering her body as still as possible. 

Her foot twitches. He sighs, and finally shifts. But before there’s the sound of him descending the stairs, there’s the sensation of her covers being draped further over her shoulders. 

Classic Bow. 

The bedroom door is open and shut just as cautiously as it was the night before. Glimmer stays frozen for a moment, not putting it past him to check back in a split second later. 

But he doesn’t. And she begins to hear commotion in the courtyard; squadron leaders report for duty and General Juliet begins role call. 

She inhales, exhales. Breathes nice and slow. 

Her back is ghosted by a warmth, almost as if Bow is still there, but the feeling fades once she pushes her sheets down the bed. 

It’s a good thing, though, the chill she feels on her exposed skin. If she stays rigid, she stays focused. 

Glimmer teleports down to her vanity, meeting herself in the mirror yet again. With her tousled hair, bloodshot eyes, and puffy cheeks— she looks more like herself than she has in months. 

So she fixes her tiara to her head and prepares for battle. 

**Author's Note:**

> im depressed but i did what i had to do <3 and gave glimbow the s4 scene they deserved 
> 
> truly i know it was because of a time crunch that they didn’t include a scene like this in the show, but i wanted it anyway! bow loves her so much there’s no way he would’ve left her to hang like that! 
> 
> listened to billie eilish’s “all i ever wanted” while writing this, which is where the title is from, along with james arthur’s “naked” and lewis capaldi’s “before you go”. all glimbow songs, imo 
> 
> might do a sequel to this if u guys want! smthn season 5 compliant! i like writing missing scenes 
> 
> anyway. thanks to my dear @spellbelle for beta-ing this and dealing with all my stupid glimbow brain rot. 
> 
> find me on tumblr @gllimbow! thank u for reading! don’t forget to comment! 💜✨


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